Prisoner?
by Namesareforlosers
Summary: Haruno Sakura has finally moved on with her life after Uchiha Sasuke left. But how will she manage to cope when he suddenly returns and is thrown into prison?
1. Chapter 1

She watched as the man she once loved was bound in chains and led to the dungeons far below them.

Unsure of how to feel, the kunoichi just stared at him. And he stared back. The look of complete and utter shock still on his face. All she had said was his name. "Sasuke." Nothing special. Which was the reason for such a shock.

_Flashbacks_

"_Sasuke-__**kun**__!" _

"_Naruto! Don't talk to Sasuke-__**kun **__like that!" _

"_Are you okay, Sasuke-__**kun**__?"_

_End of Flashbacks_

He mouthed her name.

And then he was gone.

"Are you okay," Tsunade, the Hokage and her teacher, asked her, "Sakura?"

"…Yeah."

Tsunade gave her a looked that said she knew it was a lie. Sakura didn't return a look, but in her head she was silently telling her that no, it was not a lie.

Haruno Sakura had moved on.

-::-

"It'll be fine, Naruto." Sakura said, rubbing his back gently. "At least they're just putting him in prison. They have every right to execute him."

Naruto nodded still letting the tears run down his face. He had been on front gate duty when he saw Sasuke approach the village. Sasuke willingly turned himself in. Naruto had tried fighting to let Sasuke stay as a citizen of Konoha. Unfortunately, Sasuke had too much going against him.

"Baa-chan didn't need to be so m-mean to him…" Naruto stuttered, leaning against Sakura.

"He's lucky she wasn't meaner."

"B-but…"

"Naruto." Naruto looked up at his pink haired friend. They had become like siblings after Sasuke left the village. "Let's go get some ramen. My treat."

"O-okay."

"Come on, Naruto. That's not how you react to someone buying you ramen."

"Sorry, I'll get over it. Hey, he's allowed to have visitors, right?"

"…Yeah?"

"Let's go see him after lunch!"

"Haha, okay okay."

-::-

Naruto had brightened up after lunch. Sakura, however, did not. They were on their way to see Sasuke and she wasn't sure how she should feel. At one time, she would have been bouncing up and down with glee, but now she was just confused. How do you approach an old crush? How do you make it known that you've moved on without saying it?

Sakura was starting to feel sick.

"Hello, are you here to visit someone?" The guard asked at the entrance to the dungeon.

"Yes! We're here to see Uchiha Sasuke!" Naruto said, a huge grin plastered to his face.

"Oh, right. Of course." He pointed out the direction Sasuke was in. The two shinobi walked down the dimly lit, underground passage.

"N-Naruto *cough* S-Sakura?"

Naruto jumped in the direction of the voice, while Sakura just froze.

"TEME!"

"Yo, Dobe." Sasuke laughed weakly. "Hey Sakura."

"Hi… Sasuke." Sasuke flinched.

"So… does this mean that you two don't hate me?" Sasuke, though he addressed them both, was staring straight at Sakura.

"What? Of course!" Naruto almost shouted, holding onto the bars of Sasuke's cell, "How could we _hate_ you? We're a team, remember?"

"B-but I left."

"So what? You came back, didn't you?"

"I'm stuck in a prison cell as another common criminal."

"Because that's what you are."

Both of the boys turned towards Sakura's voice with wide eyes. Sasuke visibly winced.

"Sakura-chan… That was cruel."

"But it's true. I'm not saying I hate you or anything, Sasuke. And I really _did_ miss you. But you did just turn out to be another criminal. You'll be free of that title in a year when they let you out of here and give you back your Konoha citizenship."

"So forgiveness was too much to ask for." It wasn't a question; it was a fact.

"It's hard to forgive someone who swore to protect you then went off and tried to kill you once or twice."

"Sakura…"

"I have to go. It's my turn to make dinner."

"Sakura, it's just past lunch."

"I have to go buy ingredients."

"Neh, Teme. I think you should just let her go."

Sasuke's eyebrows shot up. Since when was Naruto the logical one? Obviously a lot had happened that Sasuke would have to get used to.

"Naruto?"

"Yeah Sasuke?"

"Do you still love Sakura?"

"I do… but only as a sister."

"Hn."

"You like her, don't you?"

"I never said that."

"You didn't have to."

"…"

-::-


	2. Chapter 2

"Damn it!" She shouted, slamming her fist against the wall. _I'm no good at playing indifferent. It only came off as annoyance._

Sakura laughed. And laughed. And soon she was on the floor, clutching her sides in laughter. _Oh my god! The tables have turned! _"Who would have thought that I would be the one to brush Sasuke off as the annoyance! So it's true; you reap what you sow."

"Sakura-san?"

She turned to see that youth-filled green ninja. "What's up, Lee?"

"Well… you were talking to yourself… and I couldn't help but notice… Are you over Sasuke, then?"

"Haha, yeah. Surprised?"

"Relieved!" He yelled, punching at the air. "This means that there is more of a chance for me!"

"Ahaha…yeah…" _Shit._

"Don't worry, Sakura-san! I'll win your heart!"

"Um, thanks?"

Sakura watched in horror as Lee ran off (into the sunset) giving her his 'nice guy' pose. _I should've said that I still liked him…_

"Sakura-chan!"

_What? Is it like 'gang up on Sakura day'? "_Hey Naruto. You done catching up with Sasuke?"

"Nah, but there's too much stuff to catch up on in just a couple hours!"

"True…" _Crap! Here comes the questions!_

"…hey, Sakura-chan?"

"Yes?"

"What was wrong with you earlier?"

"I don't know what you mean…"

"You know what I mean, Sakura-chan." _Dammit, he's serious!_ "You treated Sasuke like shit!"

"I-I didn't mean to. It j-just came out!"

"Well then. Let's go back and apologize then, shall we?" Naruto grabbed Sakura's arm and started dragging her towards the prison.

"No, wait! Naruto!" She desperately tried to pull out of his grasp, even used her inhuman strength she inherited from Tsunade, but stupid Naruto had to master sage mode AND the nine-tails chakra! "I don't want to go! Stop! Naruto! I-I'm scared…"

"Don't be! He's behind bars, Sakura-chan!" Naruto turned in the direction of Sasuke's cell. "Besides, even if he wasn't, he wouldn't hurt you."

"Yeah right…" Sakura mumbled under her breath.

"Yo, Teme!"

"Dobe?" Sasuke looked up confused. He hadn't been expected Naruto to come back until the next day. Naruto pushed Sakura forward a little too hard and she fell against the bars of the cell. "S-Sakura? …I thought you had to make dinner…"

"I-i…" Naruto nudged her a little from behind. "I'm…"

"That's okay. I can wait." Sasuke said sarcastically.

Sakura twitched. She hated stupid annoyed look on Sasuke's face more than anything right now. She slowly tried to swallow her anger, unfortunately for her, it just got bigger. _Just try to think of the good old days. _She thought back too all those times when she and Naruto went on the craziest adventures together, but she had to cut memory lane short when she thought about something ridiculous Sai had said. _That's it!_ "I want to introduce you to our new teammate, the one that took your place, Sai!" She noticed Sasuke flinch. Perfect. "I'll bring him by tomorrow."

"Oi, Sakura-chan! That wasn-" Sakura covered Naruto's mouth and started dragging him towards the entrance.

"Bye-bye Sasuke! See you tomorrow!"


	3. Chapter 3

"Neh, Sakura-san? How long do you think they're going to keep him in there?" Sai asked as they headed towards the prison.

"A very long time." Sakura said shrugging. "Wouldn't you have more of an idea than I would? You ARE Anbu level."

"Yeah, but the Anbu don't really bother ourselves with prisoners," He said thinking back to before he was in team 7, "so we never knew when they got out… or even _if_ they got out."

"I guess that makes sense."

Sai turned to her. "Sakura-san. I understand that you're upset with Uchiha Sasuke, but are you sure you want to make him feel unneeded?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"There really is no other reason for you to want me to meet him…"

"Just go with it, Sai." Sakura smiled at him, daring him to contradict her.

Sighing, Sai entered the prison with his semi-psycho teammate. Sakura lead the way down the hall and around a couple of courners.

"Neh, Sasuke!" Sakura shouted a gleeful greeting. "This is Sai."

"Yo."

"Hello Sasuke-kun. We've met before, haven't we?"

"Yeah… but that was all the way back when Orochimaru was still alive."

"True."

"So… what's new with team 7, then?"

"Oh, we have two new members! Sai and Captain Yamato."

"What happened to Kakashi?"

"Oh, Kakashi-sensei got badly hurt once, and so Captain Yamato was his replacement for a while. He became a permanent part of team 7 when we learned that his wood element technique could tame the nine tails chakra."

"Oh… Sai, can I talk to Sakura for a moment?"

"Of course." Sai got up and walked down the passage.

"Sakura…"

"So, you killed Itachi then?"

"Sakura."

"I guess the path of revenge works for you."

"Sakura, shut up and listen!" Sakura jumped a little.

"Okay."

"I know that I don't deserve your or anyone else's forgiveness, but you were never the type of person to be cruel about it. If you can't forgive me, then just don't come back here! And when I get out, I'll avoid bumping in to you at all costs. You won't ever have to see me again. But don't make me feel any worse than I already do."

"I already forgave you."

"You're not acting like it."

"What do you know? You don't know me, Sasuke! You never did!" Sakura shouted back, feeling the tears build up behind her eyes. "Even before you abandoned us, you didn't know me! All the time we _ever_ spent together, you didn't even acknowledge my existence! I wasn't stupid! I saw it! I knew you didn't like me! But I didn't care. I would've given anything to be with you, Sasuke."

"Hey! Don't act like I treated you so horribly! Out of all of my annoying fan girls, I paid the most attention to you!"

"Because I was on your team!"

"Because you were different from all of the rest!"

Sakura lost control and allowed the tears to roll down her cheeks. She couldn't face him. She wasn't ready yet. All of those emotions were right under the surface and she would not let them up. "I'm leaving. I will not come back. Make sure I never see you again, unless it's unavoidable."

"Wait, Sakura, I…"

"Save it."


End file.
